CAMPAIGNERS fighting for the reinstatement of an ancient North Yorkshire bridleway are celebrating after a planning inspector ruled in their favour.

The route, linking two roads on the edge of Kirkby Malzeard, near Masham, was padlocked in January 2002 when local riders started trying to use it after the lifting of after foot-and-mouth restrictions.

North Yorkshire county councillors approved an application to officially recognise the bridleway, known as Rosper Road, which runs from Pately’s Plantation to Kirkby Moor Farm at Kirkby Malzeard, and a public inquiry was held in December in Grewelthorpe Village Hall.

The planning inspector announced on Tuesday (February 16) a ruling in favour of horse riders, and agreed with North Yorkshire County Council that a map modification order should be made so the right of way is opened.

Local resident Richard Sadler, who led the campaign to reopen the bridleway, said: “This is very welcome news for the local horse riding community whose importance to the local economy is often overlooked.

“It has taken 13 years to get to this stage and my colleagues and I have spent hundreds of hours going through old maps and archives to prove that this is an ancient bridleway – now we can say it was all worth it.

“With increasing road traffic and more and more horse riders getting killed or injured on the roads it is vital that we hang on to the few off-road routes we’ve got.”

The contested bridleway was originally blocked by Chris and Ruth Broadley, who bought Kirkby Moor Farm around the time that temporary restrictions on walkers and riders were introduced in 2000.

They claimed Rosper Road had never been a public bridleway.

But campaigners discovered an ancient copy of the 1789 Kirkby Malzeard Inclosure Award, describing Rosper Road as “a horse and foot road 20ft in breadth” and ordering local landowners to “fix, hang and forever hereafter repair maintain and support good and sufficient gate posts.”

To support the claim more than 30 people signed statements saying they had used the route or seen other people use it from the late 1920s onwards.

The claim was supported by North Yorkshire County Council’s Rights of Way Team whose 2011 order for Rosper Road’s reinstatement was referred to the Planning Inspectorate following objections by the Broadleys.

Confirming his decision planning inspector Michael Lowe said: “I am satisfied that the 1789 Award set out Rosper Bridle Road as a public bridleway.”